21st February International Mother Language day.

 

Cairn for martyr of 1952 at Bangladesh

International Mother Language day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999. International Mother Language Day is celebrated every year on 21st February. The main purpose of celebrating this day is to promote the awareness of language and cultural diversity all across the world. The date represents the day 21st February 1952 when four young students were killed in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, because of Bengali and Urdu language controversy. In 1947 at the time of partition of Pakistan,
the province Bengal was divided into two parts: the western part became India and the eastern part is known as East Bengal which was later known as East Pakistan. At that time there were many economic, social and cultural issues including linguistic issue. In 1948 when government announced Urdu as the national language it sparked the protest among the Bengali speaking majority of Pakistan. The protest got out of control and ended with the death of four protestors of the University of Dhaka who were shot by the police. The students’ deaths during the fight for their mother language are now remembered as The International Mother Language Day